The present disclosure relates generally to mobile devices, and in particular to techniques for using mobile devices to communicate in a visual manner.
Computers and other electronic devices can communicate with each other over networks such as local area networks, wide area networks, and the Internet. Mobile devices such as cell phones, including so-called smart phones, can communicate with each other wirelessly over a variety of wireless networks including 3G and 4G networks. Such mobile devices also can communicate over the Internet with remote servers using protocols such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Mobile device users sometimes call customer support or technical support centers of businesses to obtain service or assistance or information regarding products that those users have obtained or are interested in obtaining from those businesses. Mobile device users sometimes call customer report representatives in order to inquire about billed amounts that are due, or to make a payment on a bill, or to set up or cancel a subscription. Often, before a caller actually reaches a live human being on the other end of the call, the caller finds himself listening to automated, simulated or recorded voices informing him of his options. These voices typically instruct the caller to say a word or push a number on his telephone or telephone application in order to proceed to the next set of options. The caller might need to navigate through multiple vocally read sets of options before the caller finally reaches his desired destination at the call center.
Unfortunately, because voice communication is a sequential type of presentation by nature, a caller is often forced to sit through the audible rehearsal of various options in which he is not interested before finally being audibly presented with an option in which he is interested. The caller usually has no control over the speed at which these options are audibly communicated to him through the speaker on his mobile device. Often, the caller will impatiently wait to hear all of the options vocally recited before trying to figure out which one of those options he ought to select. Because audible communications are transitory in nature and not fixed on any tangible medium, the caller might forget exactly what some of the previously recited options were by the time the last option has been spoken; he might be forced to request that the entire set of options be repeated. This repetition is wasteful of the caller's time and irritating to the caller.